High up in the branches of a tree I sat leaning against the wide stem and watched the training ground. My new sensei should actually show up in the next few minutes. I leaned my body forward a bit and pulled out a kunai from my weapon bag. With narrowed eyes I aimed at a small knothole, which was about ten meters away from me on the opposite tree. Loosely I spun the small weapon in my hand, then gripped tighter and threw. Crap. Just missed. But the next one, would hit for sure. I reached over my shoulder and for my bow, along with the quiver of arrows.

I smiled slightly as I felt the thin wood of the arrows between my fingers and pulled one out at random. Carefully, I stood up. My target was the training dummies that stood crisscrossed in the square. The string creaked softly as I tightened it. A light wind came from the right and I changed direction a little. A few seconds later I let the arrow fly. With a soft hiss, it cut through the air and bored directly into the doll's head. I grinned. Hit.

Up to now, archery had been more of a hobby of mine. I practiced to pass the time and for hunting. That was all. I couldn't really imagine using a bow and arrow in a real fight. But let's see, maybe there were still some possibilities in that.

In one simple motion, I hung the bow around my neck again. Then I took a running start and jumped. My hands got hold of the branch above me and I pulled myself up on it. At the beginning of my time as a thief, I had really had problems climbing trees. I was even afraid of heights. But over time I had put this fear aside and learned to move almost silently through the branches. Like a predator on the prowl, I had felt every time I went hunting. High up in the forks of the trees. A rather unusual, but usually effective way to hunt.

With a jerk, I pulled the kunai out of the branch hole and stowed it in my weapons pouch. Nimbly I climbed down the tree. Why jump, when climbing was much more fun. Of course, I could also run up it with the help of my chakra. But I did that only in the highest emergency.

My limbs tightened. I could feel something. A presence, but I could not tell where he or she was. Abruptly, I stopped moving and remained still, clinging to the trunk. I closed my eyes and concentrated my senses on the surroundings. Heard the singing of the birds, the rustling of the wind and ... a crack directly behind me. The air hissed and, in a flash, I let go of the log and jumped.

With an ugly crunch, the two throwing knives bored into the trunk. I did not look back, with the ulterior motive of being distracted by anything. Still falling, I fished one of my kunai from my belt pouch. Not a moment too soon. More of the knives came at me. There was a clang as I fended them off. Gently, my feet hit the ground. When I heard the deadly hiss again, I made a finger sign in a flash and swapped my body with a tree stump. In this way, I was able to disappear into the shadows in a flash and hide.

Pressed tightly against the trunk of a tree, I sat there and observed my surroundings with a watchful gaze. At the moment I didn't really care who the attacker was. The only thing that mattered was that I got out of this in one piece. If he managed to drive me out of my hiding place and into an open area, it would be over for me. Then I would be vulnerable at every point.

About glowed before my eyes. Small and inconspicuous at first, but then it moved toward me at breakneck speed. A small fireball. Instinctively I reacted and jumped aside. There was a loud clash as the projectile crashed into the tree. Flames licked greedily up the plant. As more fireballs came my way, I jumped back inch by inch. I felt a little helpless. For the sole reason that I was only busy dodging.

My eyes widened as I saw more projectiles hurtling toward me. Wait a minute. I didn't feel their heat. Were they deceptions? Surely that didn't mean anything. Bravely, I straightened my shoulders and ran toward the hot projectiles. They simply passed through me. Neither did my skin burn, nor did I feel their heat. A triumphant smile graced my lips. I knew it.

Now it was time for the attack. If I was not mistaken, my opponent had already used up some of his chakra. That meant for me that I possessed a larger chance to possibly decide this fight for me. But I had to proceed carefully and deliberately. But also, not to overdo it.

I grinned before I began to gather my chakra in my feet and ran up the nearest tree. Once at the top, I let the chakra flow subside so as not to use too much and looked around. I grabbed one of my arrows and put it in the string. What my enemy couldn't see was that I had a letter bomb wrapped around the arrow.

So now I sat there waiting for the next attack. Sweat ran down my forehead and tension made every muscle in my body tremble. There! A sound in the branches, not far from me. A shadow had moved and was coming straight at me. I couldn't make out much of my opponent, as he was still using the darkness of the forest to approach me. In his hand he held four small shuriken. Quick as a flash I had shot the arrow. However, not directly on my opponent, but the branch, which separated him from me.

A few seconds later, a deafening bang shook the small forest. Firmly I clawed my finger in the branch on which I sat. Then, without warning, I saw four small shuriken flying towards me. I had no more time to react but clung to the only thing I could think of in this situation. „Jutsu of invisible shield."

I felt it. Felt it had worked as soon as the small weapons bounced off my shield. I couldn't help but laugh in relief. Done. I had mastered the jutsu again, and in such a difficult situation.

„Not bad," it sounded not far from me, and I looked up.

Sitting on a branch diagonally above me was none other than Kakashi Hatake.

Thunderstruck, I stared at him. So, he had attacked me. Had this whole fight only been an exercise? Or maybe he had used it to test me to see if I was good enough. I did not know.

Critically I eyed my counterpart.

Quietly, the light-haired Jonin landed directly in front of me. At least he tried. Something prevented him from doing so. I understood and, grinning, released the jutsu.

„I've never seen a jutsu like that before. And I can't copy it either. This is really interesting."

A rustling in bushes announced another visitor. Confused, I looked at the arrival; I had never seen him here before. Maybe once by chance. But I wasn't the type to memorize faces quickly either.

He was about as tall as Kakashi and had shoulder-length brown hair, and his Konoha headband was strangely knotted in the front instead of the back. He looked at me almost scrutinizingly as he chewed on a strange needle. He had a calm and deliberate air about him, but perhaps I was mistaken.

I recognized him as a Jonin from his vest, but what was he doing here? Was he my new sensei?

„What is the meaning of this?", I asked confused.